Oprah was in NY This Week to Finally Respond to Maui Fund Backlash
Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King are Best Friends.
Which makes sense that Oprah would make CBS Mornings her first appearance to address her now controversial People's Fund of Maui.
Why is the People's Fund of Maui controversial?
Whell. It's because the fund was begun by a multi-billionaire (Winfrey) and a major multi-millionaire (Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson), supposedly to help the folx in Maui who lost everything to the fires in Lahaina.
It goes a lil something like this:
A lengthy caption alongside the post stated they had personally kickstarted the fund with a $10 million donation between them and encouraged others to donate too.The video received significant backlash, as thousands of comments across social media questioned why the duo couldn't dig deeper into their own pockets as viewers pointed to their vast personal wealth, or why they couldn't ask fellow celebrities for money, instead of appealing to ordinary people who may be struggling financially. Forbes has estimated Winfrey's net worth at $2.5 billion, and Johnson's at $270 million, which means they contributed less than 0.5% of their total wealth to the fundraiser.
So Oprah let the whole ordeal marinate for a few weeks. Because she's brilliant. But this week marked time enough to be out and about on the world stage again-- to promote a new book about happiness. (the irony isn't lost on me.) Her first stop was to CBS Morning News with Bestie Gayle King. I'd be lying if I said it wasn't awkward.
You can watch it for yourself above, but the gist is (in Winfrey's words), as She Knows reports,
So this idea came about because I was on the ground, talking to lots of people, trying to figure out how I can best help. We thought because both of us (Dwayne Johnson) have given to charities our whole lives, that starting the fund with $10 million would be a great idea. We’ll do what Dolly did, get other people to give money, and then we’ll put it directly into people’s bank accounts. Sad we’re in this state in our country.
So then the backlash to Oprah's response to the backlash happened. And it has not been pretty out here on these interwebs for congillionaires. This response to Oprah's response has already garnered over a million views.
@tanyabeautycoach Oprah responded and as predicted she unfortunately doesn’t care. #oprah #selfprojection #selfreflection #greenscreenvideo #donation ♬ original sound - Tanya Beauty Coach
I love Oprah. But I think she keeps missing the point of why people are miffed. This could be a sign that maybe it's time to sit this one out.
Dwayne Johnson has been not made a statement since the Maui controversy began.
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